An energetic teacher and pioneering modernist sculptor of abstract human forms, Alexander Archipenko created one of the first multi-media sculptures, composing it of wood, glass and wire. He experimented continuously with the effects of negative and positive space. He began his career with a Cubist style and then turned to simplified, abstract shapes with hollowed out parts of the bodies, especially where one might expect curves.

His American works include Archipentura, a machine he invented in 1924 that showed paintings in motion.

He was born in Kiev, Russia and studied at the art school in his native Kiev from 1902 to 1905, when he was expelled for criticizing the academic attitudes...